Real Chats – Real Teachers – Real Honest

Tag: Mareike Hachemer

“I think as humans we tend to think of success as being self-made … and feelings of failure to be caused by someone else, maybe a bad teacher, and that is often true, I guess. But, I think we don’t give the good teachers enough credit, because we take them for granted, like we sometimes take other good people in our surroundings for granted,” says Mareike Hachemer, an educator of 14 years from Wiesbaden, Germany, on the importance of uplifting the teaching profession in the eyes of society. “I think it’s important for us to share their stories as teachers … ask them how they contribute to the global goals. And I think it’s important that we continue convincing education journalists to take a new approach.

“We focus on the negative,” continues Mareike as she discusses the tendency of top news stories about teachers focusing on things like sexual harassment or teachers who publicly shame students. “…but I think it’s important that we also focus on what’s being done, what works, why does it work …. A more prominent position for education news. Lots of big newspapers only have education news once a week or once there is something very big like an international study. There are so many stories about education that need to be told and that the public can learn from and teachers can learn from and students and parents can learn from. I think those need to be shared more often and they need to be on a similar importance as news about the economy or news about other social or medical advancements, and they certainly need to be on a higher level than real estate and pop culture.”

Teaching – The Most Important Profession in the World | Mareike Hachemer | TEDxHeidelberg:

Why teach: Because 60 Million teachers and 1.2 Billion students have the power to change the world!

Noteworthy Outtakes from Mareike’s Chat

As the third Global Teacher Prize Finalist to chat with teachers, Mareike talks to listeners about the need for teaching global citizenship and building the skills in our own classroom that will help lead to students who are self-directed learners who are critical thinkers, productive citizens and lifelong learners.

“[Teachers must take opportunities to implicitly teach] the social emotional skills, and the behavioral skills, so that [students] can make a difference, locally, nationally and globally,” says Mareike. “That first started for me when I asked a group of 15-year-olds, who they thought could make a difference in the world, and they all said no one can.”

Mareike shared how her students insisted people like Bill Gates could make a difference in the world but remained unconvinced about other examples she presented to them. “They also tended to look at those change makers in a very negative way and suggested that they had ulterior motives, or that they just wanted to be in the center of attention, or that they just wanted to, I don’t know, be self-important. From that, came the idea of letting them try to make a difference.”

Mareike’s students were then tasked with a four-week challenge to make a difference. She discusses the challenges her students faced at first with doubt and their tendency to think up overly ambitious ideas. However, she then talks about the opportunity for building problem solving skills, and learning about scaling their ideas down to meet their tight four-week deadline. Part of the work also included the need to consider possible setbacks. In the end, students were able to see ways they could make a difference in the world by offering tutoring to peers, visiting a local animal shelter or helping the homeless.

Through perseverance and reflection, listen in as Mareike shares her passion for helping students reach their full potential and become active citizens.

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Real Chats - Real Teachers - Real Honest

A collection of teacher talks and best practices meant to inspire and initiate conversation in the education community.